This is quite the week for clearing radio schedules. Radio 2 is at it today with 2Day, 12 hours of jumbling up things so that those cast into "specialist" and nocturnal slots present in daylight to huge audiences: Janice Long at 10am and David Jacobs at 2pm. For the rest of the day, it's one-off pairings of Radio 2 presenters showcasing strands of the station's output.

On Monday, two local BBC stations – BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey – also shelved their usual programmes and brought listeners centre-stage. Marking the halfway point in a year following the lives of 100 members of their audiences, One Day, One Hundred Lives dipped into each story for a progress report. It made for cheering, and sometimes very moving, radio. We heard from listeners battling serious illnesses; others embarking on major career changes; older listeners with incredible vim and vigour ("There's no way I'm going to retire"); an athlete training for the 2012 Paralympics.

These stories were given plenty of time, space and admiration by presenters chatting live to them, and their diversity was impressive. I enjoyed hearing about a woman who is setting up a club for people who feel too old to go clubbing ("It'll be full of mums and dads dancing") and another who cares for her poorly husband, and loves driving him about in her posh car. The interviewer just stopped her from saying the make ("we don't advertise") so she made do with, "it's a luxury model". She sounded fantastically fun and resilient. "You're all smiles," the interviewer noted. "Life's good," she chirruped.

But wisely, the day was inclusive to listeners beyond the selected 100, asking the audience to call in if for some reason – however small or seemingly ordinary – Monday was a memorable day. These were slighter stories, of wedding anniversaries and pet birthdays, but knitted everyone into the same idea for a memorable day of radio: life is often extraordinary when you stop and look at it.

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